In One's Element
by Jediempress
Summary: Sora triggers a random spell and a trio of elements must find the seed needed to save him. Prize fic for Jao Ensatsu Kokuryuha. Oneshot.


This is Jao Ensatsu Kokuryuha's prize fic for being first to identify Gobbles as being from South Park. I hope you like this. It's rather… random.

In One's Element

"Oh man! Oh man!" Demyx chanted in a near panic. He ran through the marketplace of Radiant Garden, struggling with the dead weight in his arms. He really hoped that the word dead was not literal.

Somehow, he found the Restoration Headquarters and felt a brief moment of relief. He had not been on this world long and tended to get lost really easily. He had managed to find the building with only two wrong turns.

He shifted the limp body he held and awkwardly opened the door using mostly his foot to do so. He darted in, barely clearing the distance before it shut again. Breathing heavily he shouted, "Help!"

Riku and Leon looked up and Riku immediately came forward. Intense concern shaded his aqua eyes. "What happened?"

"I don't know!" Demyx allowed the teen to take Sora from his arms. "We were just out walking and he suddenly dropped!"

Riku carried Sora over to the bed, Cloud already waiting beside it. The blonde swept in the moment Sora was settled and began checking the boy over. After a minutes, he frowned. "He seems to be merely unconscious. All of his vitals are fine."

Leon had joined the pair at the bedside, Demyx fidgeting at the foot of it. Riku made several failed attempts to wake Sora up. He moved aside to let Leon try but he was as unsuccessful.

"Demyx, can you find your way to Aerith's?"

"Um…"

"I'll go." Cloud turned and left the room.

Demyx stood there, feeling completely helpless. "I'm sorry!"

"Why?" Riku glanced over with a deep frown. "You didn't do anything to cause this, did you?"

"Well, no."

Leon had cupped Sora's face and was lightly rubbing at it. Riku had not let go of his hand. The sable-haired man muttered, "He's completely unresponsive."

"I don't know what's causing this." Riku studied his friend. "If it had anything to do with the Keyblade, I would know."

"Um, if it helps we were talking about Roxas." Demyx offered.

Riku shot the Nobody a look. His eyes narrowed dangerously. "I thought we had discussed that."

"We did." Demyx frowned, an angry glint to his own green eyes. "…And I told you that I wasn't going to pretend that Roxas never existed. He was my friend and if Sora wants to know about him, I'm going to tell him!"

"…And risk making Sora unstable?" Riku shot back. "You know what Diz said-"

"I don't care." Demyx stated firmly. "The guy was totally wrong about a lot of things and I think this is one of them."

Before they could argue further, the door opened and Cloud, Aerith and Merlin entered. Aerith hurried over and began looking over Sora and pulling various items from the small basket she brought with. After a moment, she shook her head. "There's nothing physically wrong with him."

"I dare say." Merlin adjusted his spectacles. "Where did you come across a konsuijoutai spell?"

"A _what_?" The others questioned.

"It puts one in a paralytic state." Merlin explained. "The name comes from-"

"How do we remove it?" Interrupted Leon with irritation.

"Oh there's a potion that can do it but I'll need a very rare ingredient." The wizard paced around. "One has to go to the other side of the Radiant Garden and retrieve a zan'tra seed. Or rather, three have to."

"Why three?" Demyx angled his head.

"Zan'tra trees are natural Trinities." Merlin spoke idly as if discussing recipes. To him, this probably was just like that. ""Three of you will have to go, each with a different element."

"Great." Riku grumbled. "That rules me out. I don't have elemental magic."

"Oh, on the contrary, you are a secondary fire due to your Jenova traits." Merlin corrected. "…And regardless of that, you have to go because there are a great deal of Heartless still in that region."

Riku looked rather relieved. This was likely because now he did not have to sit around feeling useless. "Fine, that leaves two more. Cloud, you have wind, right?"

"Yeah."

"I'm ice," Leon added.

"I'm water," Demyx put in. He turned away. "Course, you wouldn't want me to help so I'll just stay here I guess."

"Actually, I would recommend that Leon stay here and you make up the third part of the trinity." Merlin advised. "That spell will have to be found and ice magic works best to destroy it."

Riku looked at Demyx oddly before biting his lip and glancing at Cloud. There was something troubled to the teen's aqua eyes but he nodded. "Fine. Then the three of us will go."

Cloud frowned at Riku, lightly touching his face. "You all right?"

"Yeah, let's get this done." He held up a hand and opened a dark corridor. At everyone's worried expressions, he sighed. "Yeah, I can make them again. Now let's get this over with."

He stepped in and after a moment's hesitation, Cloud and Demyx followed.

As they walked through the darkness, Demyx trailing behind the other two, he quietly asked. "Do you know where we're going?"

"There's a field in the southern hemisphere with a single tree growing in the middle of it. I'm assuming that's it." Riku took Cloud's hand. "Hopefully we won't run into any trouble."

"That would be good." The blonde swordsman agreed.

Demyx looked at the back of Riku's head. "So, uh, you two are back together, huh?"

Riku stiffened. Cloud looked over at him with confused eyes. "What do you mean by that?"

The silvered teen sighed, as if coming to a major decision. He squeezed Cloud's hand and turned to look over his own shoulder. He gave the dark blonde Nobody a regretful smile. "I've been a real jerk to you."

"Well, there really wasn't a reason for you to be nice to me." Demyx rubbed the back of his head. "I mean, I did help cause a lot of trouble…"

"…But you helped me out during a really tough time. You and Axel were my lifelines."

Cloud stared between them in confusion. He did not ask but it was clear what he wanted to know. How exactly did the other two know one another?

Riku began walking again. "After you and I broke up while Sora was sleeping, I wandered around in a bit of a daze. I kind of lost direction and while I was trying to pull things back together, I met Axel. I told you what happened with him."

Cloud nodded. When he and Riku had decided to get back together, Riku had confessed that he had slept with the fiery Nobody a few times. He really hoped this explanation involving Demyx was not going in the same direction.

"Axel brought me along a few times to meet up with Riku," Demyx took up the story. "I didn't take what happened at Castle Oblivion very well and Axel seemed to think that since Riku had been there, talking to him would help me process everything."

"The three of us actually ended up becoming a pretty tight group. We were all going through similar things and we helped one another to get through it." Riku sounded remorseful. "Then Roxas re-entered the picture and we all went our separate ways."

Riku blew out a breath. "So know you know the reason for the odd tension. I realize now, I've just been being stupid about the whole thing. I'm sorry, Dem."

"It's okay." Demyx laughed. "Though I'd hate to see what you'd do if Axel came back."

"I don't even want to think about that one." Riku's voice was tight. "I know that he sacrificed himself for Sora but he did it because of Roxas. He never gave up on getting him back."

"I think he'd be alright. In the end, he understood that joining with Sora was what Roxas needed and wanted to do." Demyx said seriously.

"Maybe." Riku did not sound convinced. He looked up and ahead. "We're here and I can sense several Heartless."

"Great." Cloud muttered. They all quickly shifted into battle mode. "How do you want to tackle this, Riku?"

"All three of us will be needed at the tree. We come out and make our way to it. You and I flank Demyx and we run up the middle." He glanced over at the named Nobody and grinned. "At the tree, we'll guard you and you do what you do best."

Demyx smiled widely. "Got it."

Riku summoned Way to the Dawn as Cloud removed Tsungi from his back. Once armed, Riku ended the corridor and they were instantly surrounded by Heartless. Without a word, they began attacking the creatures and heading for the large tree in the distance.

At its base, Riku and Cloud stayed relatively close and continued picking off the Heartless that jumped at them. Demyx held out his hand, letting his sitar appear. He twirled it once with a happy grin and plucked a string.

"Dance, water, dance!" He played out a complex ditty and water clones began swirling to life and sweeping around, literally washing away large swaths of Heartless.

Once there were no more Heartless, the clones fell into puddles of water and soaked into the ground. Riku released his Keyblade and Cloud returned his sword to his back. The light blonde gave the darker blonde and appraising look. "That was impressive."

"Dem is a hell of a lot tougher than people think." Riku gripped the Nobody's shoulder for a moment before looking over the tree. "Well, any ideas?"

"Maybe we should have asked Merlin what we were supposed to do when we got here." Demyx suggested.

"A bit late for that now." Cloud muttered. He began walking around the trunk and studying the branches above. The lowest ones were well beyond any of their reaches. "I don't see anything that looks like seeds."

"He said we needed to use three different elemental magics." Riku spoke slowly.

Demyx bit his lip. "Well, uh, I have an idea…"

Riku glanced at him. "Go for it."

"Well, I learned a bit about plants from Marly. What if I flood the roots with water and then you focus heat at them to, like, speed up the absorption?"

"Okay, then how do we fit Cloud in?"

"Uh…" Demyx scratched at his head. "Maybe his job is to use wind to blow the seeds from the leaves?"

Riku looked at Cloud who shrugged. "It's a plan."

"Okay." Riku stepped back, as did Cloud.

Demyx, who had kept his sitar in hand, began playing another tune and puddles of water flowed up to the tree, saturating the tree's base. Riku concentrated heavily and willed fire to appear around the trunk. It took a great deal of effort since he was not at all skilled at using the elemental force but flames began licking from the tree bark.

Abruptly the flames turned purple and the water orange. There was a whooshing sound and the entire tree glowed bright white. Cloud managed not to turn away and stared up, looking for anything different among the leaves.

Small, black orbs began appearing within the labyrinth of branches. Assuming those were the seeds, he cast the strongest wind spell he knew. A swirling vortex reached up from the ground, tugging at their clothes and reaching up to tangle itself within the tree's arms.

Several orbs feel to the ground at their feet and the glow suddenly faded. It was a completely normal looking tree again. There was no sign anything had happened. The orbs on the grass had become perfectly round blue seeds.

"That was kinda cool." Demyx noted.

"Yeah," Riku picked up a few of the seeds. "These better be them."

The other two picked up some also and they re-grouped. "That was a good plan, Demyx."

"I have my moments."

"Let's get these back to Merlin." Riku opened another corridor. The three stepped in and silently walked the distance back to Headquarters. All of them were exhausted from their efforts.

Back at HQ, Merlin had already begun the rest of the potion. Leon was at Sora's bedside, gently stroking the boy's spiked hair. He glanced up as they entered, a trace of relief in his expression.

Riku handed over his seeds to Merlin who immediately added them to the cauldron. Cloud and Demyx set theirs on the table. Merlin looked giddy at the number they had brought.

"Did you find the spell?" Riku asked coming over to sit with Leon on the bedside.

"Yeah, now we just have to figure out where it came from."

A foul smell filled the air and Merlin laughed. "It's ready."

"Oh, that is rank." Demyx pinched his nose. Cloud quietly nodded, making his breath shallow. Riku and Leon simply committed all of their focus on Sora.

Merlin walked over with a glass of thick, opaque liquid. "Now he just has to drink this and he'll be good as new."

Riku glanced at Leon. "Do you want the honors?"

"You're his best friend."

"Thanks." Riku muttered dryly, switching places with the man. He took the glass from Merlin and sighed. He held up Sora's head and leaned it back a bit. "Hold his mouth open, Leon."

Together, they somehow got the contents down Sora's throat. Once it was all swallowed, Riku laid the younger teen's head back down and they all just waited. It was nearly a full minute before Sora began stirring.

Bright blue eyes blinked and he turned his head with a groan. "Oh, what a weird dream…"

"You have a lot of those." Riku smirked.

Holding a hand to his head, Sora slowly sat up. "I was talking to Roxas. He said you needed to quit spazzing out cause he wasn't going to somehow possess me."

Demyx chuckled. "That sounds like Roxy."

Sora smiled, looking at Demyx. "He's glad you're with us."

"Yeah, well…" Demyx started uncomfortably. "It's still a bit weird."

"Don't worry," Riku glanced over with a faint grin. "It won't be for long."

Demyx studied him a moment before smiling broadly. He was already feeling like he was beginning to belong. He had friends again.


End file.
